1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal device in which, in a subpixel region serving as a minimum unit of display, a thickness of a liquid crystal layer is changed in a reflective display region and a transmissive display region. Further, the present invention relates to an electronic apparatus having such a liquid crystal device.
2. Related Art
At present, liquid crystal devices are widely used for electronic apparatuses, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants, or the like. For example, when various kinds of information on the electronic apparatus are displayed in forms of images, such as characters, numerals, graphics, or the like. In such a liquid crystal device, a plurality of subpixel regions serving as minimum units of display are arranged in a matrix shape in horizontal and vertical directions in a plane of a liquid crystal layer so as to form a display region. Further, by controlling the alignment of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer for each subpixel region, light passing through the liquid crystal layer is modulated for each subpixel region, such that display is performed.
In the above-described liquid crystal device, a so-called transflective liquid crystal device has been known. In the transflective liquid crystal device, two regions of a reflective display region and a transmissive display region are provided in each of a plurality of subpixel regions. In this case, reflective display in which external light, such as sunlight, indoor light, or the like is reflected by the reflective display region and display is performed by use of reflected light, and transmissive display in which light from an illumination device serving as a backlight passes through the transmissive display region and display is performed by use of transmitted light can be selectively performed (for example, see JP-A-2003-084313 (page 5 and FIGS. 1A and 1B).
Further, in the related art liquid crystal device, a technology has been known in which the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive display region is set larger than the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective display region, such that the length of an optical path at the time of transmissive display and the length of an optical path at the time of reflective display are made equal or close to each other (for example, see JP-A-2003-084313). In JP-A-2003-084313, a region where a resin film having a proper thickness is provided and a region where a resin film is not formed are formed in one subpixel region, such that the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is changed.